研究目的
To directly visualize the distribution and organization of cell surface molecules on cell-membrane surface using a novel AFM and NSOM/QD-based dual-color nanoscale imaging system.
研究成果
The AFM and NSOM/QD-based dual-color nanoscale imaging system provides a powerful tool for direct molecular visualization at the single-cell level. It can overcome the outstanding problem of photobleaching conventional immune-fluorochromes while executing near-field imaging that breaks-through the diffraction limit, and provides highly-reproducible fluorescence imaging with a best optical resolution of 50 nm.
研究不足
The application of NSOM in biomedical research is limited due to the complicated natures of cell membranes or biologic molecules. The absence of highly photostable fluorophores for use in NSOM is one of the major reasons why NSOM has not been reproducibly used for nanoscale imaging of functional cellular molecules.